Rolling mill



March 14, 1944.

E. T. PETERSON ROLLING MILL Filed Feb. 25, 1942 2 Sh eets-Sheet 1 Jaw/4E0 TFZn'Eso/v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E. T. PETERSON ROLLING MILL Filed Feb. 25, 1942 March 14, 1944.

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Patented Mar. 14, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROLLING MILL Edward T. Peterson, Reading, Pa.

Application February 25, 1942, Serial No. 432,337

5 Claims.

ihe invention relates to rolling mills and more particularly to a novel arrangement of heating furnace and rolling mills which will permit either mill to be operated independently of the other, one of said mills preferably being for large ton,- nage production and the other of said mills being adapted for the formation of structural shapes or merchant bars for a more limited output.

Another object of the invention is to provide a billet heatin furnace having a plurality of exit doors arranged at different levels and means for utilizing either of the said exit doors as desired.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a plurality of rolling mills, either of which is adapted to be fed by billets from the same furnace, one of said mills being so arranged that the feed rolls thereof are. partially covered to provide a safe walkway while the other of said mills is in operation.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a plurality of rolling mills each provided with independent roughing rolls and each provided with conveying means by which the products of the roughing rolls may be fed to finishing rolls, the latter being adapted to operate on the product of either of said mills.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a billet heating furnace having a floor extending substantially in a single plane to an exit door, said floor extending beyond said exit door and. sloping downwardly to or adjacent a second exit door.

Other objects of the invention will appear from a detailed description of the same when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figures 1 and 1A are diagrammatic representations of the rolling mill layout embodying the invention.

Figure 2 isa longitudinal vertical section through the heating furnace.

Figure 3 is a cross section thereof taken on the line 3--3 of Figure 1.

Before describing the invention in detail it should be pointed out that it has been customary in the past to provide in connection with rolling mills a billet heating furnace and means for feeding the billets, after the same ar heated to the desired temperature, to a succession of banks of two-high rolls, each of which is adapted to react with the billet during the single pass of the same through each pair of rolls to progressively change the shape of the billet to the desired conformation of I-beam, angle or other structural shape or merchant bar as desired. Since these mills are elO arranged for sequential operation and since the reduction in cross section results in the elongation of the billet blank, it is essential that each of the successive mills operate at a higher speed than the preceding mill in order that the elongation of the billet blank will not result in either distortion of the blank or in forcing the blank through the rolls at a greater rate of speed than the peripheral speed of the roll. Since the twohigh rolls are primarily adapted for but a single pass it necessarily follows that when the plant desires to change the conformation of the finished product it becomes necessary to dismount the series or banks of rolls and substitute for the same rolls having the desired surface conformation and to readjust the speed of these successive rolls in accordance with th change in the cross section of the billet blank. This operation may require several hours time for a number of men and greatly increases the cost of production, and it is to avoid this that applicant has conceived the invention herein disclosed.

By constructing the furnace I, as indicated in the drawings, and by also providing the furnace with a sloping floor 2 extending downwardly beyond the exit door 3, and providing at or adjacent the lower extremity of the downwardly sloping portion 2 of the floor another exit door 4 it is possible to use a furnace in connection with either the primary mill diagrammatically illustrated and designated in its entirety as 511, or to use the lower exit door 4 and feed the billets from the furnace to the secondary mill designated in its entirety as 5. Adjacent the exit doors or openings 3 and 4 I preferably provide pinch rolls diagrammatically illustrated and designated by the numeral 5.

It will be understood that the primary mill 5a is of the two-high type having a plurality of banks of roughing rolls. The first bank, designated as i, may comprise any desired number of stands. The second bank, designated 8, may likewise oomprise the same or a lesser number of stands, and positioned adjacent this second bank 8 I may provide a flying shear designated as 9. Positioned beyond the flying shear I may provide a third bank of roughing or finishing rolls in any desired In the event that the product of the primary mill is bars of large diameter, these bars may pass through trough II and are then conveyed to the hot bed, and then to storage in the usual manner. In the event that the bars are of small diameter they are led from the secondary trough Ila and then turned by hand or by the curved guide l5 and pass through the finishing rolls IE to the secondary curved guide I I and from the latter to further finishing roll I 8, through the guide [9, through the rolls Ilia, guide ISa, to roll [82), and from the same to a supplemental cooling bed by the rolls 2D, and then to rod storage.

It will be evident, therefore, from the foregoing description that the primary mill is adapted to handle large tonnage and that by properly positioning the conveying troughs H and Ila the product of the final bank Ill of the rolls can be properly finished, transferred, cooled and stored as desired.

The secondary mill 6, which is positioned in alinement with the exit door 4, is provided with a plurality of feed rolls diagrammatically illustrated by the full lines I90, the feed rollsprojecting but a small distance above the normal floor level and being adapted to be partially enclosed by cover plates designated as 28a, the ends of which overlap two adjacent rolls. The successive feed rolls extend longitudinally of the plant and pass the banks of roughing rolls 1 and 8 of the primary mill so that when the secondary mill is not in use the men operating the primary mill are protected from injury by reason of the cover plates and may use these cover plates as walkways without reference to the conveying rolls of the secondary mill.

Preferably positioned at a point adjacent the outer roll of the bank 8 of the primary mill I provide, in connection with the secondary mill, a three-high roughing roll 2| and adjacent the outer face of this three-high roll I provide, as usual, a tilting or raising table 22 by means of which the billet, after passing between the bottom and the next superimposed roll of the thre I high roll, may be brought into alinement with the opening between the superimposed roll and the upper roll, after which the billet is moved vertically and passes through the space between the intermediate and the lower roll and may repeat this process for as many passes as are necessary to cause the billet blank to be brought to approximately its finished state.

A conveying trough 23 is positioned beyond the tilting or raising table 22 by means of which the product of the three-high roughing mill 2| is conveyed to the finishing roll I2 and may be led from the latter to the transfer table l3 or, if the products of the secondary mill are bars of small diameter, the same are adapted to be returned through the curved guides l5, H, N and IBa and through the finishing rolls l8, 13a and I817, and thence to the supplemental cooling bed and bar storage.

I have provided, as is usual, in connection with the furnace l, billet skids 24 by means of which billets may be moved to the feed rolls 25 of the furnace where the same are moved progressively by the ram 25a to points in alinement with either door 3 or 4, and in conjunction with these I provide rams 26 and 2'! by means of which the heated billets are fed respectively to the pinch rolls 5 and thence to primary or secondary mills 5a, and 6.

Also in connection with the furnace there is provided at one end thereof, jets 28 communicating with ports 29 opening into the interior of the furnace. These jets form control or conveyor mechanism for a combustible medium through which the furnace is heated to a predetermined degree.

It will, of course, be understood that the banks of roughing rolls, whether two-high or three-high rolls, as well as the finishing rolls, are all provided with trough mechanism of any desired or preferred kind, which mechanism forms no part of applioants invention and is, therefore, omitted in detail from the disclosure.

It will be further understood that when the secondary mill is in operation the primary mill is preferably shut down and it is also understood that in order to operate the secondary mill 6 the feed rolls are rotated so that the heated billets forced from the furnace by the rams 21 will travel over the conveying rolls and be fed to the three-high mill 2|.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A rolling mill set-up comprising a billet heating furnace provided with a pair of exit doors, one of said doors being spaced from and at a lower elevation than the other, and separate roughing mills associated with each door, one of said mills being of the three-high type.

2. A rolling mill set-up comprising a billet heating furnace provided with a pair of spaced exit doors, the fioor of said furnace sloping downwardly from one of said doors to the other, separate roughing mills in alinement with each of said doors, and means for leading the product of either mill to finishing rolls.

3. The combination with a billet heating furnace having a plurality of billet exit openings arranged at different elevations, of banks of roughing rolls positioned adjacent and in alinement with each exit opening, means for forcing a billet outwardly of said furnace from either exit opening, means for feeding said billet to the cooperating bank of roughing rolls, and means for covering one of said feeding means when said adjacent feeding means is in operation.

4. The combination with a billet heating furnace having a pair of billet exit openings positioned at diiferent elevations, feeding means in alinement both vertically and laterally with each opening, roughing rolls in alinement with each feeding means, finishing rolls spaced from said roughing rolls, and means associated with said finishing rolls for selectively receiving the product of either of said roughing rolls.

5. The combination with a billet heating furnace having a pair of billet exit openings arranged at different levels, of a plurality of banks of two-high roughing rolls positioned in alinement with one of said exit openings, and a second bank of three-high roughing rolls positioned in alinement with the other of said exit openings, feeding means interposed between said exit opening and said three-high bank of roughingrolls, means for covering said feeding means, said covering means being adapted to form a walk-way when said bank of two-high roughing rolls is in operation, and a plurality of finishing rolls adapted selectively to receive the product of either said two-high or three-high roughing rolls.

EDWARD T. PETERSON. 

